Conviction out, man to walk free

After serving 25 years of a life sentence in prison, David Fauntleroy was scheduled to be heading home today a free man, cleared of all charges of wrongdoing.

Since he was charged in a 1983 homicide, Fauntleroy maintained he was tortured into confessing by Chicago police detectives at Area 2 headquarters, which was then under the control of Cmdr. Jon Burge.

Fauntleroy's attorney sought a new trial last August based on the torture evidence, which hadn't been available during his original trial. This week, a Cook County judge threw out Fauntleroy's conviction. And on Friday, prosecutors decided against retrying him, paving the way for his release from prison.

"He's spent more time in prison than he has spent out of prison," said Fauntleroy's lawyer, Douglas Harper.

Fauntleroy was convicted in 1986 of robbing and fatally shooting Keith Lewis. He said police beat and coerced him into signing a confession.

His co-defendant, James Andrews, who implicated Fauntleroy in the slaying, was also convicted of the murder and robbery. Andrews alleged he had been tortured as well. He was released early last year after a judge dismissed his confession.

Citing the judge's ruling in the Andrews case, the Illinois attorney general's office confirmed Friday that it won't seek a new trial for Fauntleroy.

"The attorney general believes this is the result that justice demanded for David Fauntleroy," said Cara Smith, deputy chief of staff to Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan.

The Chicago Police Board fired Burge in 1993 for the torture of a convicted killer of two police officers. A four-year probe by Cook County special prosecutors found that officers led by Burge coerced confessions from many suspects in the 1970s and 1980s, but concluded it was too late to charge anyone. Federal authorities charged Burge last October with lying about torturing suspects.